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Bu'hai
A realization mortals quickly came across in their time in the Cocoon is that life will only come from the fated intimacies of man and woman. Those who sought a life of love beyond themselves could only reach out to others, and inevitably perished in the sands of time. Then it was discovered that a Shedim, a creature unbound by the laws of the Grand Design, could defy such things willingly. Appearance Towering over the height of all mortals, the bu'hai appears a monster before those who plead for its aid. The bu'hai are exclusively female, themselves mothers to many Shedim below them. Their skin is a ghostly white, often bloated in appearance. Stretch marks span across their whole bodies. Plenty of nip is provided for the infants of other such creatures to suckle on. There is nothing beautiful about the bu'hai on the surface. They rarely move from where they are summoned, though they prefer the dampness, darkness, and warmth of caves. Though their beady eyes are often too sunken into their skulls to be seen, a sensation of care radiates from her visage. Contrasting the warmth in her eyes is the stabbing of her voice. Much like the mortals who seek her aid, she speaks of forbidden acts. Liquids in proximity to the bu'hai will literally stand up like needles against the will of the world. The mortal body will feel her voice stabbing into his very eyes. Throughout the cycle of this Shedim's services to the mortal, she will be unchanged, immortal, an unfathomable life of servitude and matter. The bu'hai will only be summonable during the season of spring. Spring is symbolic of new life, a direct link to the bu'hai. Psychology Bu'hai are mothers first; they are creators and caretakers to those who summon them. Contrary to most Shedim, the bu'hai has a universal appreciation for life and creation, much like their own mother, Aoide. A bu'hai knows when she is summoned that the couplings seeking her services come to her in desperation, yet together and loving. She realized fully the sacrifices mortals will make for their own happiness and regrettably, at times, obliges. Should any outsider ever challenge the well being of her charges or creation, the fury of a mother will be felt full force. Few escape the grasp of the bu'hai who dare challenge her... Punishment, given the presence of a merciful bu'hai, is often castration for males, and the forcible removal of the uterus of a woman. Being creatures of creation, the bu'hai also possess a divine loathing for all things of death and undead. Shedim, being chained to servitude by the mother, cannot refuse summonings to such locations marked by death and undeath. A bu'hai brought into the world in a cemetery will freeze up and refuse to aid the mortals who have summoned her. The presence of undeath will especially anger her, and interfere with her work as well. Powers The bu'hai is gifted with the power of creating life. With the aid of the mortals who summon her, the bu'hai is capable of combining their life forces to bring a child into the world. A man and woman can typically do this on their own. The bu'hai permits this action for homosexual couplings as well as couplings between one or more sterile beings. The Shedim, oddly, frowns upon mating groups greater than two individuals. The bu'hai will begin simply by collecting the materials necessary to create new life. The parents must sacrifice of themselves to bring this child into the world. From them, the bu'hai will require bone, flesh, blood, knowledge, memories, feelings, and ultimately a part of their life force. The life of the parents is ultimately cut in half such to provide the child with a full one. Parents are fairly limited to choosing the appearance of the child. They might choose a gender, but the details of the new life will spawn directly from their own appearances. For example, the odds of a Sin'drael couple having a child with brown hair are impossible. The child will mirror the appearance of the parents, much like a natural birth. The materials given up by the mortal parents are consumed by tooth and nail at the front of the bu’hai. The essence of lyr can be seen leaving the pores of the mortals as exchange, which is itself a terrible experience. The necessary fluids and ethereal bits are then put aside as the Shedim goes to work in bringing a child to life. Her inner being works very much like a loom, now taking the materials given to her by the parents and turning them into the most basic strands of life to be woven into a new being. Needless to say, the parents cannot give up an arm and a leg and hope to continue their own lives. Therefore, the bu’hai supplements the necessary components with her own matter, though these parts will lose any supernatural powers attributed to them once broken down and rewoven. Once this seed is prepared, much like that of a mortal conception, it finds a place in her “womb.” The bu’hai’s “womb” is the large bubbling furnace on her back. The child is forged within the boiling innards of the bu’hai. The mortal components survive the process due to the infusion of the Shedim’s power and her own immortal life force. Here the child develops, kept warm by the infernal heat, and fed by the basic essences of the Shedim. Perhaps it is obvious to say this will create no ordinary child. The Child It should be noted that the child is not part of the Grand Design. As abominable as the child's existence may be, there is little Fate can do to prevent their births. Tessit can never foresee their coming into the world. Furthermore, the Tessit cannot read the fates of children birthed by the bu'hai. Another result of being excluded from the Tapesty of Fate is that the child will never fall to the possession of a reincarnating Inadri. The Chantry of Ecematare especially view such births as abominations. The child will require at least two thirds of the entire season to develop to the point of self-sustainability. Parents who contract with a bu'hai after such a time risk losing their child. The bu'hai will inevitably return to Sheol at the turn of spring to summer, meaning the child would be born in the world of the Shedim rather than within the Cocoon. The child is born at the age of five. He will know exactly who his parents are, share their language, and memories that they gave to him. The child will also retain bits of the parents' knowledge, social, cultural, and scholarly. Most children born through the bu'hai have a heightened state of intelligence as well. The child solely will feel a link to his parents, the bu'hai included. In the same plane, within close enough proximity, the child will feel where the parents are. There are suggestions that children born through a bu'hai also possess a greater affiliation for sorcery, especially those dark arts pertaining to the Shedim. The bu'hai will readily defend any child she bears as her own, perhaps more than the mortal parents. Weakness Being a creature of life, the bu'hai has a weakness to unlife, specifically that of the unborn. The premature fetus of any creature is especially noxious to the bu'hai. The rotting scent of the fetus burns the nostrils of the Shedim; contact with the fetus or any fluids from it will also melt the bu'hai. The fetus can be of any creature, be it of an animal or mortal.